Naerys Targaryen

Naerys Targaryen

Title

Spouse

Allegiance

Book(s)

Queen Naerys Targaryen was the sister-wife to King Aegon IV, known as the Unworthy, the sister of Prince Aemon "the Dragonknight", and the mother of King Daeron II Targaryen and Princess Daenerys Targaryen.

Naerys had the Targaryen looks, a very fine and delicate beauty, almost unworldy. She was very slender and small, with big purple eyes and fine, pale, porcelain skin, near translucent. Naerys dressed well, but simply, and seldom wore her crown or any other jewellery. Though she had the silver-gold hair of the Targaryens, she often bound it up beneath a hair net or concealed it beneath a cowl. She bore a certain resemblance to Daenerys Targaryen.

Naerys was the only daughter and youngest child of King Viserys II Targaryen and Larra Rogare. According to semi-canon sources, she almost died in the cradle and was sickly for most of her life, finding most physical activity to be very taxing. She ate but little and was painfully thin, almost emaciated.

She loved music and poetry, played the harp very well and enjoyed sewing and embroidering. She was also devout in her faith, and often found solace in the pages of the Seven-Pointed Star.She would have become a septa, had her father allowed it. Naerys loved Aemon the most out of her two brothers, as he knew how to make her laugh. Aemon was also more like Naerys in character, while Aegon was not. Yet, in 153 AC, Naerys was married to Aegon at their father's orders. The singers like to claim that both Aemon and Naerys wept during the ceremony, but the truth is different: Aemon is known to have quarreled with Aegon during the feast, and Naerys wept during the bedding, not the actual wedding. Prince Aemon joined the Kingsguard soon after the wedding, at the age of 17.

On the last day of 153 AC, Naerys gave birth for the first time, to a son named Daeron. Daeron's birth was difficult for Naerys, however, and Grand Maester Alford warned her that another pregnancy could kill her. Naerys thus went to her husband, and asked him, as he now had an heir, if they could live as brother and sister, instead of husband and wife. Aegon refused.

The marriage of Aegon and Naerys was an unhappy one. Aegon is known to have stated that he had loved nine women in his entire lifetime, yet Naerys wasn't counted as being amongst those. Whilst unhappy in her marriage, Naerys still had her brother Aemon, and her son Daeron, who both knew how to make her smile.

Throughout the years, Naerys would go through several more difficult pregnancies, despite Grand Maester Alford's warnings from 153 AC, that another pregnancy could kill her. In 161 AC, Naerys gave birth to twins, and nearly died in the process. The twins died shortly after birth, leading King Baelor I to fast for a moon's turn. Baelor also sent Naerys' husband, Prince Aegon, to Braavos on a diplomatic mission after this pregnancy. Accounts at the time suggest it was an excuse to make sure Aegon left Naerys alone as she recovered from the difficult childbirth. In 172 AC, Naerys gave birth to a second set of twins. The boy was stillborn, but the girl, Princess Daenerys, survived. Yet again, this delivery caused Naerys to linger near death, and Aegon's Hand, Lord Bracken, went as far as to speak openly about marrying his own daughter Barba (who had given birth to the king's child a fortnight before Naerys had gone into labour) to Aegon, after Naerys' expected eventual death. However, Naerys eventually slowly recovered, and the scandal caused Lord Bracken to be fired from his office.

Naerys did, in the end, die in childbirth, a year after Prince Aemon's death. The child, never mentioned again, most likely died as well.

After Naerys's husband became King, rumours that their son Daeron had not been fathered by Aegon, but by their brother, Prince Aemon started being spread around. The truth of this claim has never been proven or disproven, though the singers claim Naerys loved Aemon, and Aemon loved her. Aemon championed her and defended her honor against the slanders of Ser Morgil Hastwyck, when he accused her of treason.

The writings of Maester Kaeth in the Lives of Four Kings state that it was King Aegon IV himself who secretly started the rumors of Naerys' adultery, using Ser Morgil to spread this tale (though, at the time, the king denied this). It should be noted that these accusations only started when King Aegon and his heir Prince Daeron quarreled in 174 AC, when Daeron opposed Aegon's plan for an unprovoked war on Dorne.

Prince Aemon also once won a tourney as a mystery knight so he could name Naerys the queen of love and beauty, instead of said title going to one of Aegon's mistresses.

Aemon eventually died defending Aegon from two men from House Toyne who attempted to murder him to avenge their brother. Naerys did not long survive Aemon's death, as she died in childbirth a year later. King Aegon, who had already slighted both Naerys and Aemon at every previous chance he'd had in the past, did little to honor either of his siblings' memories. Daring to go further now that the Dragonknight was dead, Aegon also began to make more references to Daeron's alleged parentage.

As far as is known, there are only rumours about Daeron's parentage, with no one having ever questioned the paternity of Daenerys, the only other child of Naerys who lived past infancy.